by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

OAKLAND - They call Jerry West "The Logo," a hat tip to the NBA emblem that features his playing profile from yesteryear. But after the way the Golden State Warriors consultant predicted how his team's Game 4 would go down against the San Antonio Spurs, he might be dubbed "The Soothsayer."

"I would think there will be a little bit more emotion, that it will probably be kind of a grind it out game," he had said before tip-off, "and I'm hoping we have enough grind left to win."

Did they ever.

The Warriors and every other playoff team know by now that winning pretty only works for so long, that all the headlines and attention disappears as quickly as a Stephen Curry release if you don't get down in the dirt to get it done. It's all about defense now, about loose balls, rebounding, pure will and the like. And so it went in their 97-87 overtime win at Oracle Arena that tied the Western Conference Semifinals series 2-2 heading into Tuesday's Game 5 in San Antonio.

"It's a character-building win for us, because we know now that even if we shoot a low clip (38%), we can still win games," Warriors center Andrew Bogut said. "We shot below 40% and we get a win. I don't think that's happened here in a playoff game for years."

It was May 14, 1975, to be exact.

This was a Spurs-esque playoff performance in every way, pure basketball beauty in the form of this ugly, do-whatever-it-takes, poise-over-polish style. It's the anthem of this time: win at all costs, style or aching body parts be darned.

So the alleged cream puff and playoff darling Stephen Curry took his third anti-inflammatory shot of the playoffs in order to play on his ailing left ankle, then gritted his way through 38 minutes and scored 22 points that were quiet until the end. With 1:46 left in overtime and the Warriors up six, he lost Tony Parker off a high screen and hit a scoop-shot layup over Tim Duncan for a three-point play that put the game away.

"I've been waiting for this opportunity for a while, and you don't want to (have a) stupid ankle injury roll like I had to keep me out," Curry said. "I doubt it will be 100% in the foreseeable future, but knowing that I could be on the court today, I had to be ready."

He moved gingerly and played off the ball more than ever, but the threat of his range-less game was enough to tilt this tide and allow so many supporting cast members to step up. Rookie small forward Harrison Barnes took the poem that lay in his locker to heart - Don't Quit by Author Unknown - and might have written it with the way he played.

He missed 17 of 26 shots but was the sort of the constant, confident threat the Warriors needed en route to a 26-point, 10-rebound performance. Warriors guard Jarrett Jack had 24 points in his outlier outing in which he hit nine of 16 shots.

"Barnes and Jack were tremendous," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They got the job done for 'em. So when other people step up, that's always a great thing in these games. Usually (in) the playoffs, teams that win have other people step up at some point in a series. Those two guys did it tonight in really fine fashion."

Bogut knew what Curry was going through, having taken a painkilling injection in his left foot before Game3 en route to his continued resurgence after an injury-plagued season. Still, he held future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan to an awful shooting game (7-for-22) while grabbing more rebounds than three of the Spurs starters combined (18). He chuckled at a news reporter who was surprised to see both his feet in ice because, well, that's an obvious sign of the times for all involved.

As the series shifts back to the AT&T Center where the Warriors won Game 2, the Spurs are left wondering when their Big Three will start playing consistently again. Parker was spectacular in Game 3 but hit six of 17 shots (17 points) and had three assists in Game 4 while dealing with a bruised calf. Super sub Manu Ginobili hit five of his first six shots during a dominant first half but missed nine of his last 12, scoring 21 points. Add the struggles at the free throw line (14-for-25), and it's clear to see why San Antonio might regret letting the Warriors come back from the brink.

"We respect them a lot," Ginobili said of the Warriors. "We knew it was not going to be easy. It's not frustrating, but what's disappointing is we had a great game, we had them where we wanted. We blew it. So it kind of hurts. But, you know what, we are 2-2. We're going back home. We have a great opportunity to go back up in the round, in the series."